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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/25043029">there's a candle in the window and the kettle's always on</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/LailaLiquorice/pseuds/LailaLiquorice'>LailaLiquorice</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>look how they shine for you [adventures in a five bedroom house] [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Avatar: The Last Airbender</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Fluff, Found Family, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, I just love them a lot OK, I promise there will be more iroh and suki in the next volume, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Iroh (Avatar) is a Good Uncle, Light Angst, Nightmares, Ozai (Avatar) Being a Terrible Parent, Past Mai/Zuko (Avatar), Past Sokka/Yue (Avatar), Platonic Cuddling, Slice of Life, The Gaang Learns How Zuko Got The Scar (Avatar), Zuko's Scar (Avatar), british author writing a british university system, internalized ableism</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-07-03</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-07-03</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-04 09:49:49</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>8,757</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/25043029</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/LailaLiquorice/pseuds/LailaLiquorice</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>It was by pure luck that they all fell into becoming housemates.</p><p>Katara and Sokka had been put into separate flats in student dorms for their first year and knew they wanted to be back under the same roof. Aang had been one of Katara’s first year flatmates. Toph was both a friend of Aang’s from fresher’s week and a friend-of-a-friend of Sokka’s. And when the initial group of four found a house with a fifth bedroom, Toph dragged Zuko into the arrangement and refused to hear anything else on the matter.</p><p>[or, Volume I of Adventures in a Five Bedroom House - Zuko learns to let himself be happy]</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Iroh &amp; Zuko (Avatar), Sokka/Suki (Avatar), The Gaang &amp; Zuko (Avatar)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>look how they shine for you [adventures in a five bedroom house] [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1813702</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>21</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>713</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>there's a candle in the window and the kettle's always on</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>It was by pure luck that they all fell into becoming housemates.</p><p>Katara and Sokka had been put into separate flats in student dorms for their first year and knew they wanted to be back under the same roof for both their senses of security. Aang had been one of Katara’s first year flatmates and the two had become close friends after she’d rescued him from their balcony one freezing winter night. Toph was both a friend of Aang’s from fresher’s week and a friend-of-a-friend of Sokka’s via his classmate. And when the initial group of four found a house with a fifth bedroom, Toph dragged Zuko into the arrangement and refused to hear anything else on the matter.</p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p>No one had the heart to argue with Aang when he begged for the attic bedroom, even though it was by far the largest of the five. He was never happier when he had all the skylights cranked open and a breeze blowing through his bedroom, sending sheets of notes flying and not improving the already-chaotic state of his living space.</p><p>Sokka’s room was well placed to overlook the street below, with a massive window that let plenty of light in. But the deep blue fabric hangings taped to the corners of the room gave what had been an empty space a cosy and welcoming feel to it, as if he resided permanently under a gazebo. Above his desk between the photographs that covered his walls was his pride and joy, a scratch map where he’d marked all the places he’d been with his and Katara’s father on his boat over the years.</p><p>The other obvious room allocation had been Toph’s. Her’s was the back room of the house’s ground floor which might have been a living room if the landlord hadn’t decided to cram as many bedrooms in as humanely possible. But the room doubled as their lounge area anyway since Toph had few possessions to her name, just a bed in the corner of the room and a desk, so the sofa and armchairs that Sokka and Zuko had somehow dragged back from the charity furniture shop fit in nicely by the door to their pathetically small garden.</p><p>Zuko had originally taken the room right by the front door and Katara the one opposite her brother on the middle floor, since Zuko’s tendency to rise early meant he was worried about disturbing them by traipsing down the stairs. But then the nightmare had come the first night after moving in; rough hands banging on the front door, bright lights behind his curtains, his father standing outside his window with fire in his hands.</p><p>His screams had brought the entire house running. He and Katara switched bedrooms the following day.</p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p>“Come on! First weekend in the new digs, we need to do some ‘house bonding’!” Sokka pleaded, wiggling his fingers for effect on the words ‘house bonding’.</p><p>Zuko looked past Sokka to Aang’s grin that took up most of his face and found he couldn’t say no to that. “Alright,” he said, taking the offered bottle of cider from Katara as Aang cheered and nearly spilling it everywhere as Toph socked him in the shoulder. That made him feel a little better; he’d had several months to get used to Toph’s antics since she befriended him last year, but he was new to the rest of these people and couldn’t help but feel like he’d messed up his first impression with a stupid nightmare.</p><p>For a while he just listened as the others talked. Sharing childhood anecdotes quickly turned into Katara and Sokka going back and forth to build on a story with their combined memories, leaving Zuko with a wistful smile as he tried to imagine himself and his sister having that sort of bond. It wasn’t until the conversation turned to previous relationships that he could contribute something he was sure wouldn’t be a cause of concern.</p><p>“I had a girlfriend while I was in school, her name was Mai,” he said, trying not to wince as everyone looked towards him. “We were childhood friends. I broke up with her but we still keep in touch, she’s about the only person from before who I still talk to.”</p><p>Before what, he didn’t say. They didn’t ask.</p><p>“At least you can still talk to her,” Katara said, to which Zuko nodded in fairness. “I didn’t date Jet officially but he was still my first kiss and still turned out to be an absolute jerk.” There was a hard look in her eyes that gave Zuko no doubt on who had ended that relationship.</p><p>“They usually do,” Toph shrugged, amending her statement when Aang protested loudly. “Except you three. But I’ve never even had a boyfriend or girlfriend anyway.” She didn’t sound in the slightest bit bothered by that fact.</p><p>Sokka had fallen quiet as the rest of them talked, staring into his beer with an unreadable expression on his face before he glanced up at Toph’s comment. “And neither should you or Aang have done. You’re children.”</p><p>“Hey, no we’re not!” Aang protested, while Toph just pulled a face.</p><p>He shrugged. “You’re both younger than my little sister, that makes you children,” he said, clearly trying hard to keep up his normal sarcastic attitude. But even Zuko who’d spent least time with him of anyone in the room could tell it wasn’t working well.</p><p>“You don’t have to talk about it,” Katara supplied before anyone else could say anything, reaching over to put a hand on her brother’s knee.</p><p>Shaking his head, Sokka squared his shoulders with a deep inhale. “No,” he said, “Talking about her means she’s still real. I want to do this.” He looked over towards the other three of them then, to Toph’s attentive expression and Aang’s look of clearly trying not to ask what the siblings were referring to. “My first girlfriend was a girl called Yue,” he started slowly. “I met her at a summer camp. We only dated for three months but I really loved her. But then she got really sick really quickly. Some genetic condition, think it was something with her heart. She died that first winter.”</p><p>Everyone was quiet for a few moments, but it was a soft and sombre quiet as opposed to the hard and tense ones that Zuko feared. “I’m sorry Sokka. That’s rough,” he said.</p><p>Sokka make an attempt at a smile. “Thanks man,” he sighed. “We had a good last few days together. And she told me that so long as I can see the moon she’ll always be with us.”</p><p>“She is,” Katara insisted quietly. They all glanced out of the glass pane on the back door to see the full moon shining down on them, and smiled.</p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p>No one was quite sure what animal Aang had smuggled in, undetected as far as Toph’s bedroom door before she had caught him. Sokka was immediately convinced Aang had a fox shoved down the front of his shirt. Katara responded to that by flicking his ear and telling him to calm down because it was obviously a cat. Zuko was torn between whether it was a racoon or opossum before he was reminded that neither of those animals existed in the UK. Toph was the only one who dared to touch it and after feeling it’s long ears decided it might have been a rabbit.</p><p>“Never mind what animal he is, can we keep him? Please!” Aang begged, turning enormous grey eyes from Katara to Sokka to Zuko.</p><p>There was silence for a moment as the three looked helplessly at each other and Toph continued to pet the mystery creature’s head. “What about the landlord? The lease says ‘no pets’,” Katara reminded him gently, to which Aang’s shoulders slumped.</p><p>Toph shrugged. “Well the lease isn’t gonna stop me because I can’t read. We’ll say he’s my seeing-eye lemur,” she said, completely deadpan.</p><p>It was impossible to contain their laughter at that. Momo the mystery creature was there to stay.</p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p>Toph had considered setting up a society for disabled students at the university to meet and discuss accessibility and shared experiences way back when she first started, but now she had her first year under her belt she was determined to make it a reality. The mutual friend of hers and Sokka’s who had first introduced them was the other participant in her plans; Teo was a wheelchair user on Sokka’s mechanical engineering course, and she and him had bonded during the first week of uni after multiple encounters while waiting for the elevator.</p><p>“Everyone who’s not able bodied and neurotypical will be welcome,” she explained to Zuko as they walked down the corridor towards the room that Teo had booked on campus for the first weekly meeting. “We’ve all got different accessibility stuff we need but all of us together means we’ll have a big voice to talk to the university with. It’s easy to feel like the only one when you’re just one person who’s blind or one person with a facial difference.”</p><p>Zuko paused, and Toph immediately sensed it to stop beside him. “I don’t think it’s enough to be- I don’t know- I…” he started, trailing off uncertainly. One hand subconsciously drifted towards his scar before he realised what he was doing and lowered it back down.</p><p>There was no judgement in Toph’s pale gaze when Zuko forced himself to look at her. “You’re not ready to call it a disability yet?” she said, phrased more like a statement than a question. Zuko shook his head. “That’s ok. It took me a while to realise it wasn’t a way of saying I was weak. It’s something I’m proud of now. People can’t pity me when it’s something I’m proud of, but that doesn’t stop abled people getting awkward as hell when I call myself disabled.”</p><p>“Sounds like how people react when I so much as exist,” Zuko muttered before he could stop himself.</p><p>Toph stayed quiet for a moment, taking in the forced breathing and anxiously twitching foot of the boy next to her. Not for the first time she wondered what Zuko’s face truly did look like. She knew he had a scar but had no reference as to what it might look like since he had never spoken about what had caused it. All she knew was that there was a before and an after, and he now lived in the after. She would have to wait until he was comfortable in order to expand on what that transition had consisted of.</p><p>Her wristwatch beeped at her to announce the new hour, and Toph focused on the fact that she now needed to enter the meeting room over how Zuko had flinched at the noise. There was no point in trying to persuade him that there was no such thing as being ‘not disabled enough’ and no time to try even if she thought there was a point, so she didn’t say anything before offering out her hand.</p><p>Zuko hesitated for a moment, unsure if he could even touch her hand let alone walk with her into a room full of people who had more reason to be there than he did. But then he slowly, deliberately, let his fingertips touch hers.</p><p>She smiled. “Come on Sparky,” Toph said, letting him adjust to the contact for a moment before sliding her hand along his to hold it loosely. “We’ve got some good gluten free cookies even if you get nothing else out of tonight.”</p><p>As always, Zuko found that Toph was right. Even though he wasn’t sure he’d go every week he could admit it was a relief to sit in a room where people’s eyes didn’t linger on the left side of his face. And the cookies were delicious.</p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p>Evening meals in the house ran by a surprisingly smooth routine, dictated by Katara’s handwriting on the notepad stuck to the fridge. Five days in the working week and five occupants meant each person was allocated a day where dinner was whatever they decided to inflict everyone else with.</p><p>Monday night was Katara’s night, starting the week off on a high note since she still enjoyed cooking a complicated recipe even after the first day of the week. She enjoyed using her hands to create after a day spent writing up lecture notes or dissecting last week’s notes into flash cards, letting her stresses ebb from her fingers with every thud of the knife on the cutting board and chasing the tightness from her lungs with each breathe of steam as she leant over the stock pot. Not only that but Monday evenings were the only night were everyone was guaranteed to be home all evening, no society activities or nights out demanding their attention, so everyone could crowd into the tiny kitchen to lend a hand or keep her company.</p><p>Tuesdays belonged to Aang, who would come home from [activity] so full of excitable energy that he had to pour it all into something physical before he could even contemplate sitting down. Most weeks he would stop at the shop on the way home, never able to think ahead far enough to buy food in advance, so Sokka and Zuko knew that the sounds of him struggling up the stairs under the weight of his shopping bags was the signal for them to close their laptops and help him. Katara would arrive back from her first aid course and Toph from her disability society meetings just as dinner was served, meaning that neither of the girls dared step back in the kitchen until it had been cleaned to Katara’s standard as opposed to Sokka’s.</p><p>Wednesdays were sports days. Classes would finish at lunch time for everyone to spend the afternoon on their own terms; Sokka would head down to the city’s rink for ice hockey, Toph could be found sparring with her wrestling friends at the gym, Aang would be on the field playing ultimate frisbee, and Katara alternated between the dance studio and swimming pool. Zuko preferred to train a little each day rather than once a week so spent the afternoon working his cafe job, so would bring home leftovers for his dinner night. There wasn’t a lot he knew how to cook but everything he could make was close to perfection, perfectly spiced and wonderfully warming after a day’s hard exercise.</p><p>Thursday was Toph’s time in the kitchen. In contrast to Zuko’s warm and spiced dinners the night before, Thursdays were a night for cold picnic style dinners and finger food that Toph could confidently prepare with no concern that she would burn herself from feeling her way around her workspace. Her cutlery draw of adaptive devices was only to be opened by her on pain of whatever she decided she would threaten her friends with that week; a knife with a guard that slid back into place automatically when it wasn’t cutting food, measuring cups and jugs fitted with sensors to let her know when they were full, and the automatic vegetable peeler she knew Aang would sacrifice a lot to get his hands on. With those tools on hand she could create coleslaws and potato salads or the occasional broth with the aid of a soup maker, good earthy meals that were very characteristically Toph.</p><p>Friday was Sokka’s day to shine, and Aang’s day to throw something quickly in the microwave as it was the one meal a week they couldn’t turn vegetarian. Meat was a once-weekly privilege since it was too expensive for students to eat regularly but Sokka would always find something under budget to roast or stew or whatever he fancied that week. Even though Sundays were the traditional carvery day it was their own tradition to end the working week, a calm sit-down meal before they’d all take a night off of homework and either crash in front of the TV or one of them would decide it was about time the others were dragged out to a bar for the night.</p><p>Less structured weekends meant less structured meals, with enough leftovers from the week that they had the option between that and the odd takeout night every so often. To an outsider it might have seemed unnecessarily rigid, but for them it was the structure they needed and made it feel like home.</p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p>Suki was the captain of the womens’ rugby team. Sokka had met her on the day of both rugby team tryouts and made a shocked comment in earshot of her that women couldn’t play rugby, after which she’d made him join the women’s tryouts where, in Sokka’s own words, his ass was thoroughly kicked. Less than a month later and the two were dating.</p><p>That event had done more for Sokka’s feminist ideals than years of Katara shouting at him which meant that she liked Suki immediately. She lived with members of the rugby team (affectionately known as the Kyoshi Warriors after the university’s first female rugby player who fought to get the womens’ team founded) but every Saturday she would come over to the house and spend the weekend with Sokka. Saturday lunches were their weekly date but she would often join the rest of them for the evening since she was a good friend of everyone in the house.</p><p>With their routine so comfortably set in stone, it was of complete shock to Sokka when he walked through the door after his last Friday afternoon lecture to see her sat between Katara and Toph on the sofa.</p><p>“Suki!” he shouted in excitement, dropping his rucksack in favour of rushing into Toph’s room and practically throwing himself into her arms. “You’re here? But it’s a Friday!”</p><p>Suki laughed, kissing Sokka’s cheek. “I thought I’d surprise you a day early, I texted Katara to make sure you had nothing planned. But tonight the three of us are having a pamper night tonight if you boys care to join us,” she invited with a quick glance at Katara to see if she minded.</p><p>“What’s a pamper night?” Aang asked, rounding the door with Zuko just behind him.</p><p>Before anyone had time to answer him, Toph chimed in with a determined grin on her face. “We’re gonna show Sparky here the meaning of self-care!” she declared, ignoring Zuko’s splutters of protest as everyone else laughed.</p><p>Once dinner was over they all crowded back into Toph’s room, armed with face masks that Suki had brought on her way over and Katara’s various tubs of hair mask along with six cups of herbal tea that Zuko had made. Since Aang had no hair to treat he took great relish in piling hair mask into Zuko’s fluffy bob and twirling all his hair into a spike on the top of his head. Sokka and Suki did each other’s hair while Katara and Toph did their own.</p><p>Katara decided then that the atmosphere was nowhere near calming enough to be a proper pamper night; Toph was initially given the choice of what music they listened to but that privilege was immediately revoked when heavy metal came blasting out of her speaker. Aang found one of his meditating playlists while Suki fished around in her bag for everything else she’d brought with her, placing a few very old looking nail varnishes on Toph’s desk before pulling out a massive lemongrass candle.</p><p>“I’m assuming you guys have matches or a lighter I can borrow?” she asked, glancing around their makeshift circle until her gaze landed on Zuko and her smile disappeared.</p><p>The sudden change in Suki’s demeanour made everyone else look over in concern at his slightly panicked expression. “Can we- can-,” he started unsuccessfully, visibly forcing himself to breathe before managing to finish with “Can we not light the candle?”</p><p>Suki nodded, quickly returning it to her bag. “Course we don’t have to,” she said, a soft smile on her face.</p><p>“We wouldn’t do anything you’re not comfortable with,” Katara added, going to touch his knee in a comforting manner but retreating immediately when his eyes zeroed in on her hand with the same poorly masked fear. With his hair pulled away from his face she was struck by how frightened and how painfully young he looked. She wasn’t quite sure of what to do with herself for a second after that, until she remembered the essential oil diffuser on her dressing table and stood to fetch it.</p><p>Before long the room was filling with the scent of lavender oil as they divided the face masks between them. Toph insisted on the one that looked most like mud, sighing happily as Sokka pasted the cool brown muck over her face. Everyone else picked at random with Zuko accepting the last one left over and glancing down at the information on the back of the pack.</p><p>“Do you want me to put it on for you?” Aang asked; Zuko looked slightly startled at seeing his face covered in blue as bright as his tattoo.</p><p>Zuko hummed for a moment. “I’m not sure this is a great idea,” he muttered.</p><p>Aang’s eyes instantly flickered to the scarred side of his face, which Zuko clearly noticed if his uncomfortable shift was anything to go by. “I don’t think the ingredients will cause it any harm,” he said, checking the warnings on the pack to double check himself on that.</p><p>“No, I didn’t mean it in that way. I, um,” he paused to swallow hard, “I don’t know if I’ll be able to let you touch my scar.”</p><p>“Oh,” Aang let out, then inwardly cursed himself instantly. Even though Sokka, Suki, and Katara were deep in conversation he was almost convinced that Toph was listening in with how protective she was over Zuko. “We can just put it on one side of your face first? And then see how you feel,” he offered, determined that he wouldn’t feel let out.</p><p>After a few nervous seconds Zuko nodded, and Aang pretended not to notice his slight tremble as he spread the grey mask over the unmarred side of his face. Once he reached the borders of his scar he withdrew his hand and asked “Would you prefer if I stopped there?”</p><p>“I think so. Sorry,” Zuko apologised.</p><p>Aang shook his head. “Don’t apologise. I’m glad you know your boundaries,” he insisted, handing him the mirror that Katara had brought in from her room</p><p>Zuko’s eyebrow raised as he looked at himself with the mask over one side of his face, then met Aang’s eyes and said in a deadpan tone “I look like the Phantom of the Opera forgot what side to put his mask on.”</p><p>If it wasn’t for Katara shouting them down to protect the tranquillity of her pamper evening then they would have all dissolved into singing at the tops of their voices if Sokka and Suki immediately jumping to their feet was anything to go by. Zuko looked just as enthusiastic despite remaining seated, while Aang just laughed at them all and Toph muttered dirtily about ‘theatre kids’ under her breath.</p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p>The blue arrow tattoo down Aang’s right arm had been somewhat of a surprise to Sokka when the two had first met. He was so young that it was clear he’d got it done almost as soon as he turned eighteen, something that Sokka wished he’d had the nerve or the money to do. After getting to know each other better Aang had revealed how the blue arrows were connected to his heritage and traced out the full pattern of the arrows which he would one day have tattooed across his entire body. Once he’d saved up the money, that was. His childhood guardian had paid for the first arm, and since then he’d put away a portion of his finances with every student loan payment until the day that he could take off his beanie that gave him a temporary forehead arrow and put it away for good.</p><p>Since Aang knew more than any of his closest friends the process of getting a tattoo and the pain involved, he was the obvious choice for who Sokka wanted with him when he got his first tattoo.</p><p>“That looks so cool!” Aang piped up as the tattooist peeled back the stencil on Sokka’s upper arm. “Tell me again what it’s for? I know you mentioned it being for your dad but I’d love to know more about the design, if you’re ok telling me.</p><p>Sokka could tell that he was asking partially out of curiosity and partially to keep Sokka’s mind distracted for when the tattooist was ready to begin. “I think Katara’s probably told you that our dad is in the Navy,” he began, and Aang nodded. “Our mum died when I was six and she was five so he was always our rock. If I’m honest then I don’t think I could tell you what she looked like if it wasn’t for the photographs. He was deployed when I was thirteen and we lived with our gran-gran after that.”</p><p>He broke off then to wince at the first needle strokes. Aang’s slender fingers squeezed his own as he said “Yeah Katara’s told me about what happened to your mum. Must have been hard having him leave when you were that age.” He looked at Sokka as he spoke but Sokka could see his eyes darting towards the progressing tattoo every time the tattooist lifted her machine.</p><p>“It was, looking back I think that’s the age when I needed him the most. But he’d take me sailing whenever he was home, let me come aboard the ship and stand behind the steering wheel while we were in dock. Those memories are some of the fondest ones I’ve got with him.” A smile snuck onto his face then despite the pain he was in. “I was always so proud of having my dad as a Navy Captain as it was, and him teaching me about how his ship worked made me want to be a Navy engineer.”</p><p>Aang nodded with a beaming smile. “And that’s why you’re here! And if you weren’t then I’d have never met you, so I’m glad you are.”</p><p>Somehow, despite the fact that Aang’s head was shaved, Sokka had the sudden instinct to ruffle his hair like his father used to do to him. “I am too,” he sighed in peaceful content.</p><p>The tattoo was finished after another hour or so, after which Aang followed on behind Sokka as he went to look in the mirror. The curved wave pattern was enclosed in a circle on his outer bicep, sized perfectly to complement the shape of his shoulder and inked on in crisp black lines. He tilted his chin up taller at the sight of it, feeling more at home in his body than he had ever done before.</p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p>“I still don’t see why I should have to pay for electricity. The light switch in my room never gets used unless one of you lot come in, I’m perfectly happy to sit in the dark!”</p><p>There was the monthly debate between Sokka and Toph again; started like clockwork on the last day of every month when Sokka badgered each of them for their portion of the rent and bills money. By then Katara was sure they only staged it for old times’ sake, since there was no force tone behind Toph’s argument and she was sure she could see a smile on Sokka’s face as he pointlessly stared her down.</p><p>“Are they doing this on purpose?” Aang asked in her ear.</p><p>Katara tried to stifle a giggle behind her hand as Sokka explained yet again with pretend impatience that they paid for gas and electricity together with no way of separating the two and he was fairly sure she enjoyed having heating other than Zuko’s absurdly high body temperature. “You have to admit that it makes watching your bank balance go down far less upsetting each month,” she whispered back.</p><p>Despite her amusement, she was glad that Sokka was the one to coordinate sending payments to the landlord and the wifi provider and the utilities company and everything else. Her brother kept the roof over their heads, she just looked after the heads underneath that roof. And she was happy with that.</p><p>Three days later, Katara was working quietly in her room late at night when everything suddenly went dark. A screech from upstairs told her it wasn’t only her room. After a bit of rummaging on her bed she located her phone from where she’d put it away to work without distraction and flicked on the torch to venture upstairs.</p><p>Aang was running down the attic stairs lit up like a star; he’d switched his usual beanie for one with a headlight attached to the front and was wearing gloves with tiny LEDs stitched into them. “What’s going on?” he asked, wincing at Katara’s cry of surprise as his headlight shone directly into her eyes. “Sorry. What happened though?”</p><p>There were still crashes coming from Sokka’s room, so Katara didn’t answer in favour of knocking on her brother’s door. “Sokka? We’re coming in!”</p><p>Opening the door and shining her torch in revealed what the issue was; somehow one of Sokka’s ceiling hangings had come down along with the power cut so he was writing on the floor beneath a sea of blue fabric. “Hold still idiot – Aang come and give me a hand here!” she giggled after several seconds of just laughing at his noises of despair.</p><p>Aang’s illuminated hands meant it was easy for him to rescue Sokka, pulling the fabric away so Katara could help him to his feet. “What on earth?” asked a quiet voice, all of them turning to see Zuko in the doorway holding a lit cigarette lighter in an outstretched hand.</p><p>“The power must have cut out, and Sokka needed rescuing,” Katara explained, then gave the lighter a curious glance. With his aversion to candles it was something she was surprised to discover he owned. “I didn’t think you smoked.”</p><p>“I don’t.”</p><p>The short answer didn’t alleviate her confusion in the slightest but she didn’t push him for further answers. “Does anyone know where the fuse box is?” she asked no one in particular, trying to remember where it was at her dad’s house for a vague idea.</p><p>“What are you lot all yelling for?” shouted Toph as she emerged out of the gloom, looking entirely unfazed by the turn of events.</p><p>“Don’t tell me you’re not a tiny bit bothered by- oh, oh wait. Sorry,” Sokka finished sheepishly after his initial outburst.</p><p>Toph smirked; she had led him right into that one. “Fuse box is in the cupboard in my room, you can all hold my hand to go down the stairs if you babies need to. And this is why I shouldn’t need to pay for electricity!” she cackled.</p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p>Something had clearly happened.</p><p>Zuko wasn’t ok. Toph didn’t need to see him to sense how his anxiety was practically shaking the floor as he walked past her into the kitchen, water sloshing around as he held the kettle in a shaking hand. She knew more than most people just how many frayed nervous he hid from the rest of them, but then again even the best attempt at a fake smile made zero difference to her. She saw people for who they were underneath.</p><p>For the moment she didn’t say anything, wary that if she pushed him too far and too fast then he would brick himself away behind the walls that had been coming down at a snail’s pace since they moved in together. But that didn’t mean she didn’t have a trick up her sleeve.</p><p>“Hey Sparky,” she said as he was about to leave the kitchen with tea in hand, not missing his badly he flinched at her voice. “While you’re going upstairs can you give me a hand? I need to go talk to Sokka but I tripped over the carpet yesterday and need to recalibrate.” Not a word of that was true of course, and Zuko would have known if he wasn’t on the verge of an anxiety attack that she’d never needed anyone’s help in a familiar space before.</p><p>But he just mumbled an affirmative, walking back over so she could take his arm. That was exactly what she’d been trying to achieve; her fingertips came to rest over the veins in his wrist and she nearly shouted in shock at how fast his heart was going. If she didn’t know better she would have said he’d just handed her Momo after giving him several shots of expresso.</p><p>She stayed quiet as he ‘helped’ her up the stairs, not waiting for her thanks before he disappeared into his bedroom. If he heard her going straight back down rather than towards Sokka’s room then she didn’t care, there were bigger things for her to worry about at that moment. Katara gently pointing out how little he was eating over dinner reassured Toph that he wasn’t going unnoticed by everyone else. It was easy to tell that he was lying when he claimed he was just a little tired, sneaking off as soon as the dishes were done to hide back in his room.</p><p>As it turned out though, she didn’t need to worry about how she was going to make him tell her what was wrong.</p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p>A thud on her ceiling made Toph shoot up in bed, knowing immediately from the positioning of his room above hers and the state he’d been in all afternoon that it was Zuko. Throwing back the duvet and sprinting up the stairs, she didn’t bother knocking before entering his room and hearing his whimpering cries as he was gripped by a nightmare. Not that she normally waited after knocking for them to say she could come in before walking into her friends’ bedrooms, it wasn’t like she could see them naked or anything, but the sense of urgency at knowing he was suffering overrode any consideration that anyone else person might have felt.</p><p>“Sparky, hey Sparky,” she whispered as she touched his arm. Immediately she could feel his heart racing again and how warm his skin felt, the sound of harsh breathing cutting through the quiet night. “Sparky it’s me, you gotta wake up.”</p><p>Instead of responding to her voice he only shrunk away from her hands, curling in on himself with a pained moan. “No, please no,” he sobbed, “I’ll be good, I’ll be quiet. I’ll be better, I promise.”</p><p>His begging made Toph feel faintly sick. “I dunno who you’re seeing right now but I promise you’re safe,” she said, not wanting to touch him again but lacking any other way to get through to him.</p><p>“N-no, don’t hurt me! Please don’t hurt me! Don’t hurt me!”</p><p>The sobs turned to shouts just as a loud thump and pained gasp announced Katara tripping over something, followed by a click which Toph assumed was the light being turned on. “Zuko!” she cried out, desperation wrestling with the forced calm in her voice as she took up a position beside Toph on the edge of the bed and continued trying to talk him back into wakefulness.</p><p>Toph could tell the second he woke up from the rapid change in his breathing. “Easy Sparky, it’s just us,” she said, trying again to reach out and touch him but withdrawing her hand when she heard him scrabbling over the bedsheet. “Sorry, not gonna touch you.” With how fast his heart was still pounding she didn’t want to do anything to increase his stress.</p><p>“Deep breaths for me Zuko,” Katara murmured, breathing loudly herself to give him something to mimic. “That’s it, you’re doing good. You don’t have to talk until you’re ready.”</p><p>A series of thuds on the upper staircase announced Aang’s arrival before his worried voice did, and Sokka barely a few seconds behind him brought all five of them into Zuko’s room. “Give him some space you two,” Katara said before Toph had the chance to, glad when neither of them came in any further than the doorway. The last thing Zuko needed right then was to be pushed into another panic attack by the people trying to help him out of one.</p><p>“S- ‘m sorry,” Zuko stuttered out between uneven breaths.</p><p>Katara made a gentle shushing noise when he tried to force out a continued apology. “You don’t need to be sorry for having a nightmare, or waking us up. We all want to help you.”</p><p>Zuko let out another sob at that. Toph could sense him trying not to touch his scar, so she opened up her hand again. It gave her no small amount of relief when his fingers closed around hers. The calming effect on his heartrate was almost instant.</p><p>Footsteps alerted her to Sokka’s approach then, but she was confident enough that Zuko wasn’t about to fall apart again that she didn’t rebuke him. “If you want to talk about it then we’re here mate, but we’re not gonna push if you don’t want to,” he offered, his voice kind and void of judgement. “Either way, we’re not leaving you to deal with this alone.”</p><p>There was silence for a minute or so, punctuated by a few shaky breaths as Zuko tried to get his panic under control. Then, he cleared his throat quietly before he said in a raw “I think I should probably tell you from the beginning.”</p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p>Sokka had made the tea. Katara had brought the blankets. Aang had found a nightlight. Toph hadn’t let go of his hand for a second.</p><p>They were all back in Zuko’s bedroom after the 10 minutes it took them to gather everything they needed. Zuko was sat cross legged where his pillow would normally be, with Toph leaning up against his side and clinging onto his arm. Aang was closest to him on the other side with Katara and Sokka sat opposite him, Aang’s nightlight placed in the middle of them all to give the room a comforting glow. It made him feel less cornered than if the lights had been fully on. He could hide in the dark.</p><p>“I think I’ve told you that I live with my Uncle when I’m not living here,” he started, skirting round the edge of the topic at first rather than diving straight in for everyone’s sake. “My mother disappeared when I was nine. My father was never a kind man but after she left there was no one to protect my sister and I from him. He didn’t treat either of us right but in very different ways, turned us against each other so we couldn’t be there for each other.”</p><p>Aang nodded, a look of recognition in his eyes. “The scapegoat and the golden child. I studied psychology before uni so I know this stuff,” he said.</p><p>Zuko gave an appreciative hum. “That sounds about right. At the time I thought she had everything I ever wanted but now I’m out I can see the damage he did to her. As much as she tormented me I hope she can change,” he said honestly, surprising himself by voicing a truth he hadn’t even told Uncle Iroh yet.</p><p>He sighed then, knowing there was no way to avoid getting into what he wanted to tell them for any longer. “My father is CEO of one of a massive company. He had a gathering at our house with a few of his supervisors – all old bigoted men, you know the type.” That got a nod from every single one of them. “One of them said something about sacrificing a group of young floor workers for the good of the business. Minimum wage workers, probably our age, probably students or people working their first jobs. I wasn’t even meant to be there but I said something, said it was immoral and managers are supposed to protect their workers. I should have known better, I-I should have known what was coming.”</p><p>“What was coming?” Katara asked in a low voice when he broke off for a few seconds.</p><p>“He waited until everyone else had left. Took me into the kitchen. Said I had to learn respect and that suffering would teach me. He lit something on fire; it might have been a stirring spoon or a spatula or something. He held my face still with one hand and then I just remember seeing the flames, and the pain, and, and-,”</p><p>Memories of burning fire filled his vision, his friends disappearing between bright fire and blackness and the smell of choking smoke and burning skin. Screams mingling with laughter. A hand gripping his jaw hard enough to leave bruises as he thrashed and screamed. Then darkness and pain, darkness and agony, darkness-</p><p>“Woah, breathe Sparky. You’re still here,” Toph’s voice interrupted his spiral, and slowly the orange haze of his memories faded back into the pale blue of Aang’s nightlight.</p><p>A stifled shudder from his other side made him glance over to see Katara’s horrified expression. “Zuko, do you mean… your scar… was that your father?”</p><p>Zuko managed to nod. Sokka swore viciously, Toph clung to him even tighter, and Aang looked as though he were about to burst into tears.</p><p>Only Katara was managing to keep her distress contained beneath the surface, but it was clear to see how hard she was finding that. “Then what happened?” she prompted.</p><p>He hummed to stall for time as he cast his mind back to what he’d been told happened next. “He left me there in the kitchen after I passed out. My Uncle was the one who found me and rushed me to hospital,” he said, recalling the only snipped of memory he had between the incident and waking up which was of him held limply in his Uncle’s arms as he sprinted into the hospital. “I had a couple of surgeries but there wasn’t much they could do ‘cept keep me on ventilation while I healed. Stayed in hospital for a month. My father didn’t want me back and my uncle had had no intention of letting him.”</p><p>There was a hard lump in his throat as he swallowed heavily and croaked out “I think he probably saved my life.”</p><p>It was only when he saw the tears streaming down Katara and Aang’s faces that he realised he was crying too. “What about your dad?” Aang asked in a small and scared voice, “Did they catch him?”</p><p>Zuko shrugged one shoulder, using his free hand to scrub the tears from underneath his good eye since Toph was still latched onto his other arm. “Not properly. I don’t think anyone believed it was an accident but there wasn’t much to prove that. Plus he could afford the best lawyers money could buy, the social workers stood no chance. It got settled out of court in the end since he wasn’t interested in fighting to get me back.”</p><p>“Good,” Sokka burst out, then immediately looked guilty. There was a tremble in his voice as he added under his breath “I hope you never have to see him again.”</p><p>Katara shook her head firmly. “Zuko you know- you know that was child abuse right? Nothing could ever make you deserve that,” she said, eyes enormous as she looked at him in a desperate hope.</p><p>He stayed quiet for several moments to consider that statement. “I do now,” he eventually conceded, not missing how Aang’s shoulders slumped in sad relief. “It took three years with my Uncle to unlearn what he’d made me think of myself. I used to think it branded me as a disappointment and a failure but now I don’t have much emotion about it. It’s just how it is.”</p><p>“So if you were with him for three years,” Sokka started, counting on his fingers and muttering quietly for a moment before he looked up at Zuko with dawning horror. “How old were you when this happened?” Everyone else seemed to be afraid of his answer as they did the maths in their heads.</p><p>Zuko bowed his head as he knew he was about to confirm their fears. “Thirteen.”</p><p>Toph made a wounded noise at that, turning her face to hide it in his shoulder. “Is that why you’re scared of fire?” she asked quietly, her voice muffled by the material of his shirt.</p><p>“I’m not scared of fire itself,” he corrected her, forcing himself not to be irritated at the suggestion that he was weak enough to be afraid of what hurt him. He was past that point by then. “I can be around fire but only if I’m controlling it.” Muttering an apology to Toph he pulled away from her for a second to reach behind Aang and find the cigarette lighter on his bedside table, flicking it on and watching the flame glow at an arms-length. “Sometimes I’ll light it if I’m having a bad day and need to stop panicking – it’s enough to remind me I’m in control still.”</p><p>Katara nodded as he let the flame die out. “The night the power went out, is that why you had the lighter in the dark? To keep yourself calm?” she breathed in new understanding.</p><p>Zuko gave a quiet hum of acknowledgement, unsure how he felt about the fact that she could see through him so easily. No one had any other response until Sokka head shot up again and he blurted out “Wait! What happened to your sister?”</p><p>“I don’t know,” Zuko said, voice heavy with regret. “I don’t know, I never saw her again. But she stayed with him if that’s what you’re asking. He’d never lay a hand on her but…” He trailed off then, unsure how to even put words into what he feared had become of Azula. “She’ll be eighteen by now, I hope she takes advantage of that to get away from him.” She had already become so destructive and manipulative when he’d last seen her and that had been seven years ago, so who knew what further damage had been done.</p><p>Sokka and Katara glanced at each other then, expressions of shock and horror and sadness mirrored in their gazes. Katara reached out to give her brother’s hand a squeeze as Sokka repeated “What the fuck,” not for the first time in that conversation.</p><p>An odd hiccupping sound made Zuko glance towards Aang, who had his hand pressed tightly over his mouth. “Zuko can I give you a hug?” he asked brokenly, waiting until Zuko nodded before crawling over the bed and wrapping tight arms around his middle. It was possibly the first time that Zuko had seen Aang not constantly jittering around with endless energy and that dead weight spoke volumes about the depth of his feelings. Zuko only hesitated before wrapping an arm around the younger boy’s shoulders to hold him securely.</p><p>“That doesn’t explain what happened today though,” Sokka pointed out, then immediately backtracked as Toph and Katara both glared at him. “Not that you have to tell us anything! I just want to know if I need to get Suki in to deck someone if they were mean to you.”</p><p>The thought of Suki fighting someone on his behalf was such a touching image he couldn’t help but smile; a mark of his progress from a few years ago when he would have only bristled at the idea that he couldn’t fight his own battles. “No, nothing like that,” he started with a sigh, letting Aang find his other hand as he sat down next to him. “We’re reading Farenheit 451 in English Lit at the moment. The protagonist burned someone alive. He was meant to be the good guy and he used a flamethrower to burn them alive.” He could feel his hands trembling again; if it wasn’t for Toph and Aang clinging onto his hands he would have reached for his lighter again.</p><p>Instead he was grounded by Toph climbing into his lap, looping her arms round his neck and sighing into the crook of his neck. “If anything like that happens in our Law lectures then I’ll fight them before Suki gets there,” she murmured, sleepy but still indignant.</p><p>“Thanks Toph,” he said, one hand coming to rest on her back. He knew he could trust her in that; while Toph studied pure Law, Zuko’s dual honours degree with Law and Literature meant that he shared several classes with her and had led to them meeting way back in first year.</p><p>From over Toph’s shoulder he saw Katara smile at him, and it brought a slight smirk to his own face at the thought of his father’s reaction upon seeing him with one teenager on his lap and another resting his head on Zuko’s shoulder. “I think we should all try and get some sleep,” she said softly, her words punctuated by Sokka’s yawn.</p><p>“Don’t go,” Zuko burst out before he realised what he was saying. Immediately he felt his cheeks flush in shame and he dropped his eyes from Katara’s face.</p><p>“Course we won’t,” mumbled Toph from somewhere under his chin.</p><p>Aang made a tired yet happy noise to Zuko’s right. “Sleepover time!”</p><p>Toph barely responded when Zuko tried to move her, so he held her securely to her chest as he shuffled to lie back down with her resting heavily against his side. Sokka slotted in on Zuko’s other side while Aang curled into Katara further down the bed. It was stuffy and crowded and maybe a little bit claustrophic but it was the best sleep Zuko could remember having in months.</p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p>His bedroom had been practically bare when Zuko first moved in. Red tartan bed covers he’d brought to match the red curtains, a mandala patterned rug, his mother’s theatre mask, his twin swords to practise forms with, his Literature books along with a few theatre scripts he read for enjoyment. While he’d grown up with everything he’d left his father’s house with nothing, and that hadn’t changed much during the humble existence he lived with his Uncle.</p><p>But after a while, he was surprised to find that his friends were leaving their imprint on his space. There was a mug on his desk that Toph had moulded and painted for him at an extracurricular pottery class the university had run. A small pile of friendship bracelets that he and Aang had made together and Zuko wore whenever he needed a little bit of luck in his day. The hat and scarf Katara had knitted for him when he admitted he didn’t own either despite his tendency to not feel the cold. The new and beautiful lighter Sokka had brought him the day after he managed to crack Zuko’s by stepping on it.</p><p>And now he had something even more special to add.</p><p>On the wall next to his bed there had been a single photo of him and Iroh blue-tacked there; he owned other photos, one of him and his mother before she’d left and a very old one of him and Azula before everything had fallen apart. But only one photo he wanted to look at every day. Until he’d gone to the local print shop and returned with another, properly printed to mark the occasion.</p><p>It was the one that Suki had insisted on taking during their pamper night, the six of them crammed onto the sofa with sopping wet hair from washing out the product and masks still on their faces (or half of it in Zuko’s case). It was the first photo that upon seeing for the first time his eyes weren’t immediately drawn to his scar and instead to his smile. He could remember the moment as clear as day; Sokka had nearly fallen off the back of the sofa where he was attempting to pose effortlessly, Toph had jammed her nose into Suki’s chin while trying to sit on her lap, Zuko was jammed in between Katara and Aang and he was laughing.</p><p>He carefully blue-tacked the photo beside the one of him and his Uncle before sitting back down on the bed to look at them. The first photo of himself with his scar where he looked happy.</p><p>He was happy.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I'm here due to the ATLA-Renaissance and couldn't be more happy about it.</p><p>There will be additional volumes that follow on from these mini one-shots since I've got a lot of things I want to explore. The next one will include a lot more Suki and Iroh since I really wanted to establish the house dynamic in this first volume. I hope you love my interpretations of the Gaang as much as I do. </p><p>If anyone has anything they particularly want me to write then drop me a comment or come find me on tumblr at lailaliquorice. The inbox is always open for people who want to yell about fic &lt;3</p></blockquote></div></div>
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